Nigeria approves $18.2B of new oil projects, 1.4B barrels

Nigeria’s oil and gas sector is experiencing a significant resurgence in investment and project approvals, driven by regulatory reforms and improved fiscal terms. The country’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, is set to outline this accelerating transformation at the upcoming African Energy Week conference in Cape Town.

Government data indicates that in 2025 alone, Nigeria approved 28 new Field Development Plans valued at $18.2 billion, which are expected to unlock an estimated 1.4 billion barrels of crude oil reserves. Officials credit this momentum to the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, alongside faster licensing processes and investment-friendly fiscal adjustments. Lokpobiri has noted that Nigeria secured four of seven major Final Investment Decisions in Africa between 2024 and 2025, positioning the country as a leading investment hub on the continent.

A central pillar of this resurgence is Shell’s $5 billion final investment decision on the Bonga North deepwater project, a subsea tieback expected to add over 300 million barrels of recoverable resources. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil’s planned investment in the Usan deepwater field is...